(Sweet Tooth #2) - Louise died in childbirth, and Abbot offered to return her remains to Jepperd if he found him a hybrid. Jepperd found Sweet Tooth, a deer hybrid, living by himself in the woods, and assured him Abbot’s Preserve was a safe place for hybrid children. On the road they were attacked by the Animal Armies, who wanted Sweet Tooth for themselves. Jepperd woke up and engaged them in a bloody brawl, killing his opponents. Jepperd suffered a number of injuries during the fight and passed out from blood loss. Sweet Tooth put the injured and unconscious Jepperd on his horse, and led it back onto the road and out of Nebraska toward the Preserve

(Sweet Tooth #13-5) - Jepperd turned Sweet Tooth over to Abbot, and felt instant regret. He reconnected with Becky and Lucy, two women who’d been held hostage at the Preserve when they were pregnant, and decided to seek revenge on Abbot. Lucy and Becky took a car to the city ruled by the Animal Armies, and Becky desparately wished she were back home where she felt relatively safe and secure. Once in the city they were surrounded by the Animal Armies, and Jepperd said they wouldn’t hurt them. A cultist scoffed that nothing was stopping him from slicing open Jepperd and taking the women for the Armies. Jepperd said he had something they’d be interested in, hybrids. He told the cultists about how he Becky and Lucy had all escaped the Preserve. The Animal Armies thought no one ever escaped Abbot’s Preserve, and Lucy showed them her scars and said some people did. They brought the trio to their founder and leader, Glebhelm, who was surrounded by chained dog hybrid children, who were finishing a meal of human remains. Jepperd told Glebhelm that he could get him into the Preserve, and promised him all the hybrids there. Glebhelm had to think a bit about going to war against the militia, and Jepperd said he had nothing to lose. Glebhelm responded that his men weren’t waiting around to die like the rest of the world, they followed the hybrids, who would bring them out of sickness and suffering by showing them a new path. Jepperd had little interest in the Animal Armies beliefs, but Glebhelm nonetheless decided he did want the Preserve after all, and called an order for all his tribes to assemble outside the city. Jepperd, Lucy and Becky waited outside the city, and after some criticism from Becky Jepperd admitted that his plan was flawed. He knew they couldn’t trust the Animal Armies, and he had no idea how they’d save Sweet Tooth since he’d promised Glebhelm all the hybrids, but he had no other way of breeching the Preserve and getting his revenge. The Armies streamed out of the city, and Lucy felt they were in way over their heads. That night Jepperd, Lucy, Becky and the Armies made camp, and Jepperd worked through more of his plan. He said that while the Armies and militia fought they could save the hybrids and slip away, but admitted they’d be done for if there was no other way in or out of the Preserve beside the main gate. Lucy said that if the Preserve still had pregnant women prisoner they had to save them too. Becky went into the woods to use the bathroom, and Lucy sent Jepperd after her because she was taking too long, and Lucy always did her best to look out for Becky, who she viewed as childish. Jepperd met up with Becky, who was fine, but they then heard Lucy screaming in the distance. Becky and Jepperd found Lucy pinned down by two cultists, and Glebhelm was roused by the scream as well, sending his pack of wolf children loose, and they ripped the cultists throats out. Glebhelm reminded his men that they were to obey his every word at all times, and even though Jepperd, Lucy and Becky were not followers, they were to be kept safe at all times, and the next cultist who dared try to harm them would be eaten alive by Glebhelm himself.

(Sweet Tooth #16, 17) - Glebhelm told Jepperd it was a glorious day to destroy the Preserve, and said he felt as righteous as the day his wolf children were born and showed him the path to salvation. Jepperd said he wasn’t looking to convert to Glebhelm’s religion. Glebhelm said his wife wasn’t a believer either, and he’d let his wolf children eat her. Jepperd and the Animal Armies breached the Preserve’s front gate, and Abbot ordered Singh to bring the hybrids down to the kennels and keep a watch over them. Jepperd’s memory of his wife was starting to fade, and he realized he was completely driven by saving Sweet Tooth, an innocent, from Abbot. Jepperd, Becy and Lucy made their way to the kennels while the Animal Armies mowed down Abbot’s militia. Glebhelm did take notice of Jepperd leaving the battlefield. Abbot confronted Jepperd, who told Lucy and Becy to go find Sweet Tooth while he dealt with his nemesis. Abbot taunted him about not being a man because he couldn’t save his wife’s life, and he allowed Jepperd to beat him bloody before claiming that he’d lied when he’d said Jepperd and Louise’s son died soon after being born. Abbot stabbed Jepperd in the chest, and Abbot defiantly told him that his world was crumbling around him as the Animal Armies continued their onslaught. Abbot promised to gut Jepperd, and kill his son afterward. Abbot’s brother Johnny hit him in the head with a rifle, and begged him to leave the Preserve and all the evil he’d done behind, saying they could go back to being best friends like when they were children. Abbot attacked Johnny with his knife, and in the struggle Johnny’s rifle went off, blowing off Abbot’s hand, and Abbot fled. Lucy and Becky checked the maternity ward, but no women pregnant with hybrids were present, and they continued on until they reached the kennel. Lucy recognized Singh, who was watching Sweet Tooth and the others, as the man who’d delivered her baby and left scars on her she still had to that day. She put a gun to his head, but Becky told her not to kill him in front of the children. Glebhelm caught up to them, and sicced his wolf children on them. They fled and ran into Jepperd and Johnny, but horse hybrid Buddy was caught by the wolf children, who began to maim him, and dragged him away. He called out to Jepperd, calling him da-da, and Singh admitted that Buddy was his child. It broke Jepperd’s heart, but the militia were returning to the kennels, and they knew if they didn’t immediately flee they’d all be lost, so he was forced to leave Buddy to his fate. Abbot surveyed the Preserve, and although they suffered heavy losses the Animal Armies had killed virtually all of his militia. Abbot returned to the kennel, and seeing Buddy being mauled shot a round into the ceiling to scare the wolf children away before firing a round into Glebhelm’s head, saying Glebhelm’s wolf boys now belonged to him.

(Sweet Tooth #25) - Abbot and the remaining members of the Animal Armies, now loyal to him, hit the road looking for Jepperd. Abbot kept Jepperd’s son buddy on a chain and had him follow behind him. Using the wolf children as bloodhounds they caught Jepperd’s scent near a mall where he, Sweet Tooth and company had celebrated Christmas.

Comments: Created by Jeff Lemire

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